Slowly Decaying Religion in the US

Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks revealed somevery interesting data concerning the growth of non- religious sentiment in the US. Further, he posited that it is a huge voting bloc which has not yet coalesced into a real movement and political force .

The growing number of non-religious people in the US, particularly the huge jump between 1990 and today shows some real decline in the religiously influenced people.

In the first half of the 20th century, ...that number [of non-religious] among Americans was at 5 percent.

...snip...

“In 1990, that number moved up to 8 percent,”

..snip...

...“All of a sudden, when they ask again today, the number has moved up to 20 percent.”

Liberals showed 40% non-religious while conservatives only 9% . Almost 1/3 of those under 30 are non-religious.

Replies to This Discussion

The growth of the 'nones' in US may appear to be slow initially but it will gather momentum some time in future as the fact that religion is very unreal will be appreciated by more and more people in. Atheism has survived for millenniums and with the growth of knowledge and human ability to think and improved communications, religions is going to be pushed back from its present position. I am very hopeful in this regard and time and again I have said that religions will cease to exist in next 200 years.

Religion is pernicious and addictive. I think the best we might hope for is that it becomes in 200 years like smoking is today. Widely condemned as a bad habit and forced to be hidden from public view, but still very much alive.

I'm glad religion is declining. It's also interesting to look at the liberal/conservative divide on theism. I wonder, if being liberal increases tendency to be nonreligious, or being nonreligious increases tendency to be liberal. Or they both stem from underlying causes.

My case was more or less the opposite. I was raised by (relatively) liberal parents, within an evangelical community. It gave me the ability to learn and question, which was what brought me out of theism.

I will be excited to see change here in the south, I feel so cut off from educated intellectuals who can have a conversation about belief vs theory without raining hellfire down on me. I for one always wondered how "Christian liberals" could be pro-choice. Seemed like a contradiction. But once there was no God in my life, I definitely think there should be less unwanted children. I feel I'm more libertarian than conversative, but I don't think a nonreligious person could even attempt to run for office. I have wondered what the religions will look like in 500-1000 years when Christ hasn't returned yet. The biggest convincing argument against Christianity for me was the awe inspiring number of followers in modern day cults. Even Christians think of Jehovah's witnesses and Mormons as cults, because proof of their beginning is so obvious, but even modern day Christianity is just 2000 years removed from the same type of beginning.

I remember growing up 30+ years ago with my Mom being a fully involved Christian, and a Member of the John Birch society. Russia, Communists, government conspiracy for a one world order, and other crazy stuff. Dad kept on telling her it was the religious fanatics we needed to worry about rather than what she was worrying about. I think 911 did wake up a lot of people. 911 gave us Seth Andrews with The Thinking Atheist podcast. That gets me wondering. Does the John Birch society still exist?

There was a CNN report some time back which stated that one of the immediate products of the 9/11 attacks was increased scrutiny of religion. Along with that, I think, is also the current growth of atheism and agnosticism as a direct outcome of that scrutiny.

As for the John Birch Society, it's still around as well. I can't help but notice that one hardly ever hears from it, though, and my resulting take is that they are largely impotent on the current national or world stage.